Asia

Ford to shutter Australia car, engine plants in 2016

May 23, 2013 06:01 CET
Ford will close its Australian car and engine assembly plants in 2016, ending almost nine decades of manufacturing in the country.... Read More »

 

Ford to shutter Australia car, engine plants in 2016

8:04 pm U.S. ET | May 22, 2013
Ford, saddled with high costs, falling sales and financial losses, will close its Australian car and engine assembly plants in 2016, ending almost nine decades of manufacturing in the country. Ford, the smallest of the country's three manufacturers after Toyota and GM, will shut its assembly plant in Broadmeadows in northern Melbourne and an engine plant in Geelong to the west of the city, Ford Australia CEO Bob Graziano said.... Read More »

 

Magneti Marelli expands China production of lighting components

May 21, 2013 09:15 CET
Magneti Marelli has opened a plant in the southern China city of Foshan to produce rear lights, headlamps and other lighting components. The company aims to secure a 10 percent share of China's lighting market in the midterm.... Read More »

 

German brands enjoy sales boom in Korea

May 21, 2013 06:01 CET
South Korea has become a growth market for BMW, Mercedes and Audi as lower tariffs make their cars cheaper and local buyers abandon a decades-long preference for domestic brands.... Read More »

 

Dongfeng-PSA sales rise 37% in April on new models

May 21, 2013 08:49 CET
PSA's China joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Corp. said it increased sales 37 percent last month to 45,303 units helped by strong demand for its stretched Citroen C4 and Peugeot 3008 models.... Read More »

 

Again, Tokyo show a no-go for Detroit 3

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 20, 2013
The Detroit 3 will sit out the Tokyo Motor Show, no-shows for the third straight time.... Read More »

 

TALK FROM THE TOP: JIM LENTZ, CEO, NORTH AMERICA REGION, TOYOTA MOTOR CORP.

Toyota streamlines decision-making for North America

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 20, 2013
Toyota President Akio Toyoda restructured the company's management this year to give more authority and autonomy to local regions. Nowhere was this more evident than in North America, where Jim Lentz, CEO of Toyota Motor Sales, was placed in charge of all Toyota sales and manufacturing for the region.... Read More »

 

Infiniti: Raise quality, sales will follow

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 20, 2013
Infiniti President Johan de Nysschen, poached last summer from Audi, aims to push into new segments, restore profitability to Nissan's luxury marque and fix lackluster quality rankings. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has ordered de Nysschen to make the brand a top-tier premium player and boost global sales to 500,000 by 2016 from just 170,000 last year.... Read More »

 

Continental names veteran exec Cramer as China head

May 20, 2013 11:38 CET
German supplier Continental has named veteran executive Ralf Cramer to head its operations in China, which it sees as the main driver of its growing business in Asia. The company says it gets around 18 percent of its sales from Asia and wants to increase this proportion to more than 30 percent.... Read More »

 

Magna opens body, chassis plant in China's Chongqing

May 20, 2013 09:36 CET
Magna's Cosma unit has opened a plant in southwest China to supply body and chassis parts to automakers in the area including Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen.... Read More »

 

M-B redesigned S class with China in mind

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 20, 2013
The redesigned Mercedes-Benz S class made its world debut last week in Hamburg, Germany, but Shanghai might have been more appropriate. Why? China accounted for 49 percent of all 2010-12 S-class sales.... Read More »

 

CARS & CONCEPTS

Honda to return to F1 racing

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 20, 2013
Honda will return to Formula One as an engine supplier after exiting the racing series in 2008. The Japanese automaker will provide engines to its former F1 racing partner McLaren starting in 2015.... Read More »

 

Kogai takes reins of Mazda's comeback

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 20, 2013
Mazda Motor Corp.'s CEO designate, Masamichi Kogai, had a big hand in creating the more stable, profitable carmaker he inherits. But formidable challenges lie ahead.... Read More »

 

Hyundai, Kia losing ground to luxury imports at home as tariffs fall

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 19, 2013
Foreign brands have seen their share of South Korea's market for premium vehicles surge to 41 percent from 28 percent in the past two years, according to Korean industry groups, as lower tariffs make their cars cheaper and local buyers abandon a decades-long preference for domestic brands.... Read More »

 

Toyota plans big hike in lithium ion battery output

12:22 pm U.S. ET | May 19, 2013
Toyota is planning to increase production of lithium ion batteries by six times, as the automaker prepares to eventually use them in its flagship Prius gasoline-electric hybrid cars, the Nikkei business daily reported on Sunday.... Read More »

 

Audi overtakes BMW as India's top-selling premium brand

May 18, 2013 06:01 CET
Audi has overtaken BMW as India's top seller of luxury vehicles, and Audi executives say the success is due to the automaker's rapid expansion outside large urban centers, as well as the Q3 SUV introduced last year.... Read More »

 

BRADFORD WERNLE

In the Land of Many Buicks, one in particular stood out

3:59 pm U.S. ET | May 17, 2013
If you were an alien from another world and your spaceship landed in Shanghai, you would immediately conclude that Buick is a planetary titan among automotive brands.... Read More »

 

In boost to GM and VW, China resumes incentives for foreign auto investment

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 17, 2013
A surprise policy shift in China is expected to give a boost to GM, Volkswagen Group and other foreign automakers planning to expand in the world's largest car market.... Read More »

 

ANALYSIS

New S class key to boosting Mercedes profit margins, China sales

May 17, 2013 06:01 CET
Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche was leaning back in the rear seat of a prototype Mercedes-Benz S-class sedan in 2010 when he realized it didn't recline far enough.... Read More »

 

VW Group sales increase 7% in April

May 17, 2013 12:06 CET
Volkswagen Group's global monthly sales picked up pace again in April after growing at their slowest rate in more than three years a month earlier. VW Group said on Friday that deliveries to customers rose 7 percent to 784,600 vehicles last month.... Read More »

 

VW, GM, others get unexpected boost in China

May 17, 2013 06:01 CET
A surprise policy shift in China is expected to give a boost to VW Group, GM and other foreign automakers planning to expand in the world's largest car market.... Read More »

 

Ford to shift Fiesta output to Thailand from Mexico, report says

4:07 pm U.S. ET | May 16, 2013
Ford, moving to ease production constraints in North America, plans to shift output of the Fiesta subcompact from Mexico to Thailand in 2016, The Detroit News reported today.... Read More »

 

ANALYSIS

New S class key to boosting Mercedes profit margins, China sales

9:00 am U.S. ET | May 16, 2013
Daimler AG CEO Dieter Zetsche was leaning back in the rear seat of a prototype Mercedes-Benz S-class sedan in 2010 when he realized it didn't recline far enough.... Read More »

 

Volkswagen starts construction of 300,000-vehicle plant in China

May 16, 2013 09:04 CET
Volkswagen has begun construction of a new factory in Changsha, China, with an annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles, the company said in a statement today. The plant is one of seven factories being built by the company as it seeks to expand annual capacity in China to 4 million vehicles by 2018 in order to meet growing demand.... Read More »

 

Renault expects 5% dip for European car market

May 16, 2013 09:34 CET
Renault expects the European car market to shrink 5 percent this year over last year, Chief Operating Officer Carlos Tavares said. The French carmaker foresees the European market being "slightly better" in the remaining three quarters of this year than the first three months, when European market sales fell 10 percent after a "very poor performance," Tavares said.... Read More »